


12 Days of Christmas

by AlwaysElisabethian



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Cute, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:07:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 13,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23402731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysElisabethian/pseuds/AlwaysElisabethian
Summary: When Elena realizes her and Damon hasn't ever had a proper Christmas together, she decides they have to have a real one - which includes lots of fun tradition. Set at the end of the show.
Relationships: Elena Gilbert/Damon Salvatore
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is a cute little idea I had, while quarantined and thought writing Christmas stuff in March would be fun! This is basically going to be somewhat short chapters, following Damon and Elena through their first Christmas. I'll be updating every day :) have fun reading!

“Do you realize this is the first Christmas we’re gonna get to spend together?” Elena asked. She and Damon were cuddling on the couch together, after he had talked her into taking a break from all her studying. Getting through the years of college she needed before she could apply to med school was taking a lot of time out of their days and Damon enjoyed when they had time to actually sit and talk.  
“We’ve known each other for years, Elena, we’ve had Christmases,” Damon said, stroking her hair gently.  
“But we’ve never actually celebrated Christmas… I mean, no gifts, no tree, no anything,” Elena said, looking at the marks her highlighter had left on her fingers. She seemed to always have them somewhere lately, since she spent most of her time buried in books.  
“If it makes you feel any better, there hasn’t been trees or gifts or anything in any Christmas I’ve had since my mother died,” Damon said, shrugging as if it was nothing. Elena sat up and turned towards him.  
“You mean to tell me that you and Stefan never got a tree? Wrapped presents? Baked cookies?” she asked in shock. She could see the reaction in his face instantly and regretted her words.  
“Not after our mom died...” he said, looking away from her.  
“I’m sorry, Damon, I didn’t mean…”  
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” he said, getting up from the couch. He had been surprisingly open with her about his feelings about his brother dying, but sometimes he would just shut himself away. Elena hadn’t bothered him too much about it, since she knew it was a touchy subject. She watched him stand in front of the lit fireplace with his back turned to her.  
“Well, it’s settled then. This year, we’re doing all of the Christmas things,” she said, getting up and hugging him from behind, “it’ll be fun.”


	2. Day 1

“You home?” Elena shouted, as she hauled in a ton of plastic bags.   
“I sure am,” Damon said, coming to the front door, his mouth falling up as he saw her, “did you buy all of Target?” Elena rolled her eyes at him, as she sat the bags down on the floor.   
“There’s more in my car, would you mind helping me?” she smiled sweetly at him. He frowned slightly, but went to the car to help her anyway. He was surprised at how many more bags were in the backseat - what on earth had she been buying? He grabbed as many as he could carry and went into the house.   
“Do you wanna tell me what all of this is?” he asked, as he put down the bags next to the ones she had brought inside.   
“Christmas decorations, of course!” she said, her smile looking impossibly big.   
“This many?” he asked, looking at all the bags.   
“Well, it’s a really big house. Do we have a ladder somewhere?”   
Damon chuckled. When she had brought up Christmas, he had figured she would forget all about it, come December, but apparently not. It seemed like she had decided to go all in on this one. And why not humour her. After all, this was pretty sweet.   
“There’s one in the basement. How about you start unpacking, and I’ll get the last of the bags and the ladder?” he said, kissing her cheek. She smiled at him.   
“Sounds great.” 

***

When he came back up from the basement, “all I want for Christmas” was blasting from the stereo, Elena was dancing around, starting the decorating. She was even wearing a Santa hat.   
“Oh, good! Thank you for getting the ladder,” she said, smiling at him. Boxes and boxes of lights and garlands and decorations he’d never even seen before were laid out on the big persian rug, ready to be put into their place.   
“Do you realize how long all of this is going to take, to get down?” Damon said, staring at it all. Elena giggled.   
“Well, that’s also a part of Christmas. Taking down the ornaments just before New Year’s!” she said, grabbing a pile of stockings, “will you start hanging the stuff that needs to go up high? Like the garlands?”   
“Sure.” 

***

It took them hours to decorate, but Damon found that he was actually kind of enjoying it. He wouldn’t have thought it was his scene at all, even after he’d let go of the badass vampire image, but it really wasn’t too bad. Plus, seeing Elena smile the way she was, made it even better. There had been a few moments where he’d been a little sad, thinking about how nice it would have been to do this with Stefan and Caroline. He knew Elena had invited them over, but Caroline was still grieving Stefan and spending as much time as she could with the girls. She’d said they might come by later.   
“Alright, well, now there’s only these left…” Elena said, taking a box that he hadn’t noticed before. He wasn’t even sure that had been out on the rug.   
“What are they?” he asked, looking at the box. It didn’t look like a traditional ornament box - more of a package from Amazon than anything else.   
“Well, I got them from Etsy… they’re handmade,” she said, handing him the box, “I think you should open them.” He frowned and looked at her, taking it. She had already cut open the packing tape, but left the box closed. Curious about what this could be, he opened the box, to find the most beautiful glass snow-flakes inside of it. He took the top one out and held it in the light. It was a little smaller than his hand, and shone beautifully in the light from the fireplace. The middle of the snowflake was different than a normal snowflake. It took him a second to recognize the crest, but when he did, it tugged at his heart. He hadn’t seen that crest since he left his daylight ring on Stefan’s grave, and the little S in the middle, made him miss his brother even more.   
“There’s one for everyone we’ve lost…” Elena said quietly, “they go in the windows.”   
Damon didn’t know what to say, but it seems Elena understood his emotions, without him saying a word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave me a comment letting me know what you think :) maybe you can guess at which Christmas activities Damon and Elena are going to be up to? See you tomorrow!


	3. Day 2

Elena was giddy as she started getting all the stuff she needed from the very well-stocked kitchen cupboards. She had worked so hard on figuring out which Christmas activities she and Damon could do, so he could have a proper Christmas, and she had almost completed her list. The next one was a thing she hadn’t done since her parents had been alive, and she was really excited to do it with Damon. She figured Christmas cookies hadn’t been the same in the 1860’s, even though she hadn’t researched it for confirmation. She’d have to ask Damon about that one.   
She had made sure to get everything she needed - cookie cutters, ingredients for the cookies, lots of store bought icing and different varieties of food colouring. They had always decorated cookies in her family, even after she and Jeremy had become teenagers and no longer believed in Santa. It had been an amazing tradition and Elena couldn’t wait to introduce Damon to it.   
“You know, I half expected two turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree.” Elena turned around to see Damon standing in the doorway, smirking at her, “That is what the second day of Christmas requires, isn’t it, my true love?  
“Like you’d ever forgive me for bringing birds in here,” she said, moving closer to him, “and with the remodelling, they’d probably get caught in some of the plastic and die horrific deaths.”   
The boarding house had been a mess for a while. Ever since they’d decided to give it to Caroline and Alaric as a school for other supernatural children, there had been constant reconstruction done to the house. Currently they were working on the wing where Stefan had lived when he was alive. They’d left his room the way it was, so Caroline could stay in it, but everything else had to be converted. Elena and Damon weren’t going to move out until Elena restarted school in the fall.   
“So, are you gonna tell me what all of this is?” he asked, putting an arm around her and looking around the kitchen.   
“What does it look like? We’re baking Christmas cookies, of course!” she said happily, grabbing the two aprons she had left on the island in the middle, “and we’re wearing these while we bake.”   
One of the aprons had the print “we whisk you a merry Christmas” and the other one “Christmas baking team”.   
“Are the aprons really necessary?” Damon asked. Elena huffed.   
“ Yes they are, so choose one.”   
“Elena, are you planning on smothering the cookies with the icing?”  
“What do you mean?” Elena asked, looking around at the cookies. It seemed like there was the right amount for the cookies they’d made.   
“This is more icing than an entire army could eat! We’ll be using this icing to make New Years cookies, Valentines Day cookies, and Easter cookies...no wait, that’s eggs, right?” Damon asked , as she pulled out the bags of store bought icing. Elena laughed  
“Yes, Easter is eggs, and you dye them. And no, we won’t have that much left over icing! It all has to go on the cookies,” Elena said, pulling up an image on her laptop, “see, like this!”   
Damon frowned, looking at the image.  
“Do you realize how many calories that is? They are literally called Sugar cookies,” he exclaimed, only half joking.   
“So?” she asked, kissing his cheek.   
“So, I’m not a vampire anymore, you know. If I wanna keep this rocking body, I can’t eat stuff like this,” Damon said, looking at the picture. Elena put the laptop all the way back against the wall, so it would be somewhat safe from all the icing and cookie crumbs.   
“Nah. Calories don’t count during Christmas,” Elena shrugged and started covering a Christmas tree cookie in green icing, “Besides, you look great.”  
“I know. But the calories still count… ” Damon trailed off, grabbing a cookie in the shape of a santa hat.   
“No, trust me, they really don’t,” she laughed, “It’s a national fact. ALL calories are exempt on holidays.”  
“Uh huh,” he gave her a disbelieving look that she ignored, “Alright, so do the base frosting first, like the main color.” She handed him the tube of red icing and he attempted to cover the cookie in it, ending up with a somewhat uneven cover that was dripping off the edges.  
“That’s a little much, but good for your first try.”   
“Hey, now, we didn’t do this kind of thing when I was a kid,” Damon said, licking icing off his finger, “You’ve got more experience than me.”   
“Well, isn’t that a first,” she teased and bumped her hip against his.   
“Hey, don’t make this harder than it already is,” he teased, running a finger along the edge of the cookie to get some of all the excess icing off.  
“You’re doing great!” she said, covering another tree-shaped one in green icing, “Go on, do another one.”   
Damon kissed her forehead and grabbed a candy cane shaped cookie, making another attempt at it. 

***

An hour later, they had containers full of well-decorated cookies everywhere.   
“I think we did pretty good,” Damon said, wrapping his arms around Elena, “Thank you for doing this for me.”   
She smiled at him, resting her head on his chest and enjoying this small moment they had together.   
“Of course. Merry Christmas, Damon.”   
“Merry Christmas, Elena."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave me a comment telling me what you think so far! :)


	4. Day 3

“I cannot believe we just spent three hours buying Christmas presents,” Damon said, as he was carrying their bags inside.   
“What? I think that was somewhat fast. You know, our friends are really hard to find presents for, so that did make this more difficult than usual,” Elena responded, looking around at the bags, “Now we just gotta wrap them!”   
“Sounds good. Where do you wanna wrap them?” Damon asked.   
“Uhm, let's just do it in the library. There’s a big enough table in there,” she said, grabbing the bags with tape and wrapping paper.   
“Did you used to wrap gifts when you were a kid?” Elena asked, as they cleared a table in the library together.   
“No. Christmas was… a lot different, when I was young . It was pre-war-time, a lot of things were different. Christmas wasn’t a big party, it was about faith. There weren’t many gifts,” he said, “it was just...different.”   
“That is very different from what I know… I mean, sure there’s the faith aspect, but Christmas now is mostly about the giving, spending time with family, putting up decorations, and the tree and everything,” Elena said, thinking about the Christmases she’d had as a kid. The tree had almost always been hidden behind their stacks of gifts, and the house had been so decorated you couldn’t enter any room without reindeer, Santa’s or snowmen gleaming back at you . Her parents would buy all different types of cocoa, and they had special Christmas mugs. And even though Elena’s mom would read them the Christmas story from the Bible, it had been more for tradition, as a way of spending time together as a family.  
“Is there anything from your childhood you would like to include in our Christmas?” Elena asked, as she got the first gift out of the bag and put a roll of wrapping paper on the table.   
“No, it’s fine. Most of those memories are… different, now.” Damon said, avoiding her look.   
“How so?”  
“My mother liked tradition. She was the one who led the Yuletide festivities in our home...when she died, well, when we thought she had died...things changed. We didn’t celebrate anymore. And knowing the truth now,” he shrugged off a memory, “As I said, it’s different.”  
“Do you wanna talk about it?” she put her hand on his upper arm, caressing it slightly.   
“No,” Damon forced a smile before leaning over to kiss her forehead, “instead, you can show me how to get that piece of paper around that book!” Elena knew he didn’t like to talk about everything that had gone down with his mother. Even though it had been a while since her death, and Damon had said he’d forgiven her, the subject was sensitive. And given the years of traumatic events they both still had to process, she was fine with leaving the whole Lily Salvatore situation as a discussion for another day. They might not have forever anymore, but they had years ahead in which to discuss those things.   
“Alright, well, it's not very hard, really,” Elena allowed the change of topic, “So put the book on the paper. And make sure the paper can reach all the way around…” She showed him how to measure the paper so the book would be covered, “Alright and just cut off the end.”   
“The scissors keep getting stuck,” Damon said, sounding frustrated, as he tried to cut through the wrapping paper. Elena giggled.   
“Yeah, it does that sometimes. Alright now, fold them over like this…” she showed him how to wrap it, noticing how focused he was on what they were doing. She had rarely seen Damon like this. Usually he was teaching her things, not the other way around. She had to admit that it made her feel good to take the lead, for once.   
“And then just flap up the ends?” he asked, after they had taped down the middle part.   
“Good thinking! Almost, yes. We just bend the ends first, so it makes the corners look nice,” she said, doing it slowly so he could watch.   
“I had no idea gift wrapping was so… elaborate,” Damon said, taping the ends shut, so the gift was completely wrapped.   
“Some people care more than others,” Elena laughed, putting a ‘to and from’ sticker on it. She then took the gold marker she had bought and wrote Bonnie’s name on it.   
“I wanna do the next one,” Damon said, grabbing a box from the bags. He measured up the gift wrapping, looking very serious.   
“You’re really focused, aren’t you?” she asked, watching him with amusement. The concentrated frown on his forehead disappeared as he smiled.   
“Well, I want to do it right,” he said, taping it together.   
“Well, while you finish that, I’m gonna go get my speakers, so we can have Christmas music!” Elena said, kissing his cheek before leaving the room. 

***

A while later, the bags from the stores were filled with wrapped gifts, and Damon had sustained several papercuts from the wrapping paper, which he was still a little salty about. He kept muttering about the slowness of human healing under his breath while Elena tried not to laugh at him.   
“So, where do these go now?” Damon asked, “We don’t have a tree to put them under,” he pointed out, looking around at the random strips of leftover wrapping paper and tape that was stuck to the table. Elena wrapped her arms around him and snuggled under his arm.   
“Well, we hide them somewhere, and once we have a tree we put the gifts under them,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder.   
“When are we getting one?” Damon asked, looping his other arm around her too, so they were hugging.   
“Don’t you worry about that. I’ve got it all planned out,” Elena said, kissing him softly, “Right now, I think there are better things we could be doing.”


	5. Day 4

“What the fuck is that God awful sound?” Damon groaned. They had gotten to bed so late last night, and he didn’t know exactly how early it was, but it was most definitely too early for loud noises like that.   
“It’s my alarm,” Elena said, sounding just as tired as he felt.   
“Alarm?”   
“Yeah, we have plans for today. Get up,” she said, throwing the covers to the bottom of the bed, leaving him extremely cold. He hadn’t ever needed an alarm, and he had no clue why Elena felt like she had to set one for today.   
“I’m not a vampire anymore, I get cold, you know,” he said, sitting up in bed. Elena was already halfway into the bathroom, getting ready for a shower.   
“Well, hurry up and get in the shower, then,” she said, turning around and smirking. All of a sudden he felt wide awake and had plenty of ideas on how to get warm. 

***

After a good amount of breakfast and a whole shit ton of coffee, Damon and Elena were in her car, heading somewhere that he could only guess..   
“Are you ever gonna tell me where we’re going?” he asked, as they turned onto the interstate.   
“That would ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it?” Elena said, smiling at him. This felt very odd - usually Damon was the one who surprised her, she was the one that was upset that he wouldn’t tell her where they were going.. He wasn’t entirely sure he liked it being the other way around.   
“How long will we be driving for?” he asked, looking at her suspiciously. Usually, whenever Elena was driving, they had the GPS on. She had a special knack for getting lost.   
“You might as well stop asking, I’m not gonna tell you anything,” she smirked at him, “You can take a nap, if you’re still tired though. I mean...you are over one hundred and seventy…old men need their sleep.” Damon grunted, “I think this morning, not to mention last night, proved that I am in peak physical condition, thank you very much.” Elena only smiled in response, kindly ignoring the yawn he tried to hide a mere few minutes later.

***

“Did we seriously drive two hours, just to go to Target?” Damon asked incredulously , as Elena parked the car. There were plenty of perfectly good stores near Mystic Falls , so he really didn’t understand why they had traveled so far.   
“Well, this way we’ll get to spend even more quality time together! And we get to see something new,” Elena said encouragingly, getting out of the car, “Come on, Damon, where is your sense of adventure?”   
Damon chuckled and put his arm around her, as they walked up towards the store.   
“Alright. I’ll play along,” he said, kissing the top of her head, “So what are we getting here?”   
Elena smiled secretively at him as they entered the store. He should have guessed that she wasn’t going to say anything until it was obvious. She grabbed a cart from the entrance and they walked down a few aisles together, until Elena found what she was looking for.   
“Sweaters!” she exclaimed, as she stood in front of the Christmas collection, “Ugly Christmas sweaters!”   
“That is actually a thing?” Damon looked horrified, as Elena started walking amongst the racks, pulling out sweaters.   
“It sure is! Oh, look at this one, that’s funny,” Elena laughed, as she pulled out a sweater with a gingerbread-man whose leg was snapped off. It had the caption “oh snap” on the bottom.   
Damon shook his head, then flipped through a few himself, slightly intrigued.  
“I like this one better,” he smirked as he pulled out a sweater that said “kiss me under the mistletoe” and pointed towards the groin of the wearer. Oh yeah, if Elena was going to insist on this particular tradition, then he was definitely getting that sweater.   
“Of course you would,” she laughed, before continuing her search, “Come on, find some more! Christmas is a season, not just one day, and I vote we wear a new sweater every single day until the 25th!”   
“Every day? Really, Elena? You know, we’re in Virginia. It doesn’t really get cold here,” Damon chuckled , as she continued her woman-on-a-mission search.   
“We can still wear sweaters! And we’re going to,” Elena insisted. Damon smiled at her determination and followed her lead. After all, he would do anything for her. 

***

They spent almost an hour trying on sweaters and choosing which ones were coming home with them. Damon was reluctant to admit it, but he had a good time. He loved seeing Elena as happy and silly as she had been while they were shopping. He loved the way being with her being with her made him feel, each and every day. Part of him had expected things to change as time passed; for their happiness to be short lived. That was what they’d been used to for so long. But no, this time was different. There wasn’t anyone out to get them anymore, they weren’t vampires; there were no more curses, or travellers, or moonstones, or sirens, or evil doppelgangers, or other sides to worry about… It was just them, and years of their perfect human life ahead, and he loved it


	6. Day 5

“Damon, would you bring down our sweaters?” Elena yelled from the parlor. She had spent the last few minutes setting up the tripod and camera she had gotten the day before.  
She had discovered Shutterfly through Google, and thought using it to make Christmas cards was a great idea for their little holiday adventure. Her parents had always used a professional to have pictures taken. Those would be put up in the house and some would be sent out on Christmas cards to all their friends and families. It had been a tradition she loved.   
However, going to a photographer to have pictures taken of herself and Damond didn’t feel right, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to talk him into it anyway. So instead, she had decided they would do it themselves.  
It had taken her a while to find the best place for it, but in the end she had decided to set it up in front of the fireplace. That was the most decorated part of the house, with stockings and garlands and everything, and it also held some significance to the two of them. How many life altering moments had they shared in front of the fireplaces of this house? This would be another memory to add to that list!  
“Oooh, so you’re finally agreeing to this?,” Damon asked as he entered the room and saw her set up, “Are we filming down here? I have to admit, I prefer the bedroom, but I won’t complain.” His eyes turned dark and Elena elbowed him..   
“It’s not what you think,” she said, taking the sweaters from him and kissing him softly, “We are not making a sex tape.”   
“But, why not? I’ve been good this year,” he promised, grabbing her waist, “And look, you have the camera and tripod all ready to go” He gestured to the setup she had made, “And to be honest, this is kinda of a great place. We could just spread some blankets on the floor, light the fire, have some-.”   
“Damon, no. Now focus,” Elena grinned, as she pulled away from him and put a sweater over her head, “we’re taking pictures for Christmas cards!” The sweater had a picture of Santa doing yoga and the text “namasleigh”. Elena had thought it was hilarious, since she had recently started doing yoga herself, so of course she just had to have it.   
“Christmas cards?” Damon confirmed.   
“Yeah. You know, you take pictures, and put them on cards and send them out to your family and friends,” Elena said, handing a sweater to Damon, “And we’re gonna take pictures with our sweaters on.”   
Damon reluctantly took the sweater and took off the shirt he was wearing.   
“So we’re clear, my idea was a lot more fun than just wearing our sweaters and taking a photo to send out,” Damon said, as he put on a sweater Elena hadn’t known he had found. It had a ton of decapitated reindeers and elves lying around in pools of blood and had the caption “Santa Slayed” at the bottom.   
“Where did you get that sweater? I don’t remember seeing it at Target,” Elena asked, chuckling at the shirt. She had to admit, it was very him.   
“I may have gone somewhere else to find this…” he trailed off.   
“Oh my God, Damon Salvatore, did you go sweater shopping on your own?” Elena laughed, as he moved to the fireplace.   
“Are we gonna take this picture or not?” he asked, struggling to keep a straight face.   
“Not just a photo, we’re gonna take lots of photos! So we have some to choose from and so we can make like a collage,” Elena said, messing around with the camera. She had looked up how to make it time the photo and then also take more than just one at a time, so they’d have lots to pick from.   
“Alright fine, where do you want me?” Damon asked, looking incredibly awkward in front of the camera. Elena couldn’t help but hold in a small giggle. Normally, Damon was incredibly confident and always knew what to do - however, he hadn’t grown up with selfies and cameras like Elena had. Even though Elena had taught him what he needed to know about phones, he never really understood the need to take photos all the time - especially not selfies, and it was a miracle when she could actually get him to smile for one.   
“So, right there in front of the fireplace, and I’ll just click this button on the camera and come join you, and then we pose!” Elena said, clicking the button and hurried to stand next to Damon. She put his arm around her and smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. When the flash went off, she hurried to change her pose.  
The camera took ten photos of them, before Elena went back over to it.   
“Alright, let’s see what we got!” she said, scrolling through the pictures. Damon came to stand next to her as they looked at them together. Elena had managed to strike a new pose in every single photo, but Damon had the same awkward “I have no clue what I’m doing”-smile in all of them.   
“Okay, that’s a good start,” Elena said, putting the camera back, “just try to change your pose every time the camera flashes! And don’t worry about what to do, just have fun with it.”   
She clicked the button again and they returned to the spot they had been standing in before. The first flash went off, and Elena went to move, when Damon’s hands found her sides and started tickling her. She instantly burst into laughter.   
“What are you doing?” she laughed, trying to avoid his fingers, “Damon, we’re taking photos!” Damon didn’t stop his advances.   
“You said have fun,” he said, as the camera kept flashing, “I’m having fun!” His hands found the perfect spot to make her scream with laughter. 

***

A little later they were sitting in front of her laptop, choosing the photos to go on their Christmas cards. Lots of the pictures that had been taken while he was tickling her had turned out great and they’d even managed to get a cute one of them just smiling in front of the fireplace.   
“Now that that’s done, what do you say we take the camera upstairs and have a little fun?” Damon said slyly, kissing her neck. Elena finished putting in the order for them and turned towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck.   
“I guess you have been kind of good this year...”


	7. Day 6

A piercing scream echoed through the house.  
“DAMON! OH MY GOD! DAMON GET DOWN HERE!” Damon heard Elena’s cry from upstairs and his blood ran cold. His first instinct was to vamp speed down to her and rip the throat out of whatever was making her scream like that, but obviously that was no longer an option. Instead, he rushed to the bed and grabbed the sword he had hidden beneath it for emergency situations, before running downstairs, ready to protect the love of his life. Elena turned around and shrieked as she saw him standing there, sword raised above his head.   
“What’s going on, who’s hurting you?” he demanded, looking around the parlor frantically for any threat or intruder. Realization set in Elena’s eyes and she started laughing.   
“Oh, Damon, baby no...Nobody’s hurting me. I’m sorry, I should’ve just walked up and gotten you,” she said, stepping closer and slowly pulling his arm down, before really noticing the weapon, “Where on earth did you get a freaking sword?”   
“Oh, uhm… it’s just one I had,” he said, putting it down on the table, “So, what’s the matter? Why did you scream for me?” he asked, still glancing around as if to be sure there was no immediate danger.   
“Sorry again. It was actually for a good thing!” Elena said, grabbing his arm and dragging him with her to the windows, “I was just so surprised when I saw it...Look! It’s snowing!” she pointed to the window, almost jumping up and down from glee.   
“Oh yeah, would you look at that! It sure is,” Damon said, fully relaxing now as he put his arm around her, “You don’t see that very often here.”   
“This is amazing! Damon, we have to go outside!!,” Elena said, running to grab her jacket, “We can make snowmen, and snow angels, and-”  
“And get pneumonia because it’s freezing and we’re human now?” Damon offered, only half joking, and Elena glared at him, before tossing him his coat as well.   
“We won’t be out that long, so we won’t get sick. It’ll be fun!” She went back over to pull on his hand, “Come on Damon!”  
As she tugged him toward the foyer, they passed the weapon he had discarded and she arched her brow, “And don’t think I’ve forgotten about the sword. We're gonna have to talk about that later.” Damon chuckled as she let go of his hand to grab their shoes, then glanced out the far window  
“Elena, it’s barely sticking to the ground. You do know there’s no way we’re going to make snowmen from that,” Damon reasoned, not wanting her to feel too disappointed..   
“We’ll figure something out. When there’s a will, there’s a way!!” Elena said, “Now, come on!”. They both put on their shoes and went outside. As soon as they stepped out from under the cover of the front door, little white flurries landed in Elena’s hair. She turned her nose upwards and stuck out her tongue, more flakes landing on it and melting instantly. She was completely captivated by the snow, and Damon was completely captivated by her. It was enough, for a moment, just to watch her enjoying the weather, but soon Elena reached a hand out to him, and Damon joined her, tilting his head back the same as she had, and opened his mouth.. The feeling of the small flakes landing and melting was nicer than he had thought, and the years seemed to melt away. He felt like a child again, easily mesmerized by the simplest of things.   
“Hey, I have an idea!” Elena said, pulling him back to the present as she ran over to their cars. A layer of snow had fallen on them, and she gathered up as much as she could, shaping it into a rather small snowball that she threw at him. It hit him right in the chest, but broke apart easily.   
“Oh, so that’s the way we’re playing?” he laughed, jogging to the grass and gathering up the limited amount of snow that had fallen there. Elena realized what he was doing and shrieked as she tried to escape him. He caught up to her and smashed it on the top of her hair, drenching it.   
“Oh my God, you did not just do that!” she gasped, “Damon there was dirt in that!. He laughed and ran away from her, as she made a new snowball. 

***

After their little match, which didn’t last very long, thanks to their quickly depleted resources, , Elena and Damon decided they’d save the last of it to make a snowman. There was a small grassy area that still had some snow left, so together, they rolled up three mini sized snowballs and found some twigs to make a snowman with. He was only a few inches tall, but still, it was their first snowman. Elena and Damon sat in the grass together, soaked to the core, but still staying out and enjoying the snow.   
“Frosty’s a lot smaller than I remember,” Damon said, putting his arm around her as they looked at their little tiny snowman.   
“I don’t care. It’s perfect,” she rested her head on Damon's shoulder, cuddling close to him. He smiled and kissed her hair, “Yeah...it really is.”


	8. Day 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A small warning at the beginning of this chapter - this is not going to be as lighthearted as the other chapters have been, but I thought the story really needed this. I hope you like it anyway!

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Damon asked, as they sat in the car.   
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Elena sighed deeply, “What about you? Are you ready for this?”   
“What do you mean?” Damon asked, brows furrowing in confusion.   
“Just… this might be really difficult, you know,” she said, placing her hand on top of his, stroking the back of it gently. Damon looked down, as though he hadn’t really considered it and shrugged.   
“I’ll be fine,” he said, kissing her hand and getting out of the car. She followed along, as they grabbed the wreaths from the back of the car. Elena realized that each of them symbolized a loss and hated how many of them there were, but this was reality for them now.   
They were both wearing all black - Damon had even put on a suit. After they’d grabbed all of the wreaths, they both headed into Mystic Falls cemetery.   
When she was younger, her parents had always taken her and Jeremy to visit the graves of their grandparents around the holidays. She hadn’t ever met them, they had passed before she was born, so it had never really struck her as important...just sad., However, since she had lost her own parents, she understood the way Grayson and Miranda had felt, when they used to go. What was once a boring Christmas time tradition had become an essential part of the year that often offered a sad comfort.  
When she had suggested it to Damon, he had been hesitant, and she’d understood why. There were so many losses that were still so fresh, and bringing them up, all at once, might prove to be too much emotional turmoil to take in a single day. But they had talked about it, and decided it was too important to not do. Even though it wasn’t going to be fun, it was necessary.   
“I can’t believe there are so many graves to visit,” Elena whispered, as they walked towards the first one. She didn’t know what it was about graveyards, but it always made her feel like talking louder than a whisper was really disrespectful.   
“Where to first?” Damon asked, putting his free arm around her. The other was carrying a bag of wreaths.   
“My parents,” she said, following the too familiar path, “they’re closer.” They walked together in silence. When they arrived at the grave, Elena grabbed one of the wreaths and put it down on their joint grave.   
“Hi, Mom… hi dad,” she whispered, kneeling in front of the grave, “It’s been a while since we’ve had a moment like this.” Damon stood back, knowing he should let her do this on her own.   
“It’s Christmas time… it’s the first time in a long time I get to celebrate. Damon is here with me. We’re celebrating together this year.. So much has changed since you were here.. We’ve been busy with Christmas traditions for a while now. It’s been great, getting to really enjoy the holiday again. I wish you could be here for it… I miss you both. I love you. Merry Christmas.”   
Elena stood up and kissed the top of the gravestone. As she stepped back and looked down at the wreath, Damon put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.  
It wasn’t until she glanced up to see him also looking down at the grave that she recalled the fact that her father had worked for the same organization that had tortured Damon for five years.  
She had loved her dad so much, but knowing that he had been capable of doing some of the things that had been done to Damon left a bitter taste in her mouth.   
“He wasn’t all bad,” she reminded herself in a whisper, swallowing hard as her eyes fell back to Grayson Gilbert’s name in the stone, “My dad…but...he hurt people, Damon. Vampires, like we were.”  
Damon rubbed her arm lightly, “Hey, don’t do that.” She blinked back a few tears and met his gaze, “It feels wrong to mourn someone who was capable of those things...but I still miss him.”  
“Elena, he was your dad,” Damon reminded her, “He wasn’t all bad…you are allowed to miss the man that raised you, that loved you.”  
She nodded, and he continued, “ You know, everything he did, it was for the right reasons. He was a doctor; he wanted to help people,” Damon squeezed her arm gently, “It’s okay to forgive the bad so you can hold on to the good.”   
Elena smiled softly at him, “When did you get so wise?”  
“Eh,” Damon shrugged, “You live a century or two and you learn a few things.”  
She nodded, before letting out a slow exhale, “Jenna’s grave is right over here… along with John’s.”   
“You go. I’ll be there in a minute,” Damon said, kissing her hand. Normally, Elena would have thought it odd, but this wasn’t a time for questioning what he was doing. It was a time to mourn and to talk to family. Friends. She could imagine he might have a few words to exchange with her parents, so she let him stay there, while she walked a few graves over, to where Jenna and John’s graves were. She put down a wreath on each, sank to her knees and let her thoughts do the talking this time. Somehow, she didn’t need words.   
After a few minutes of silence, Damon joined her, sinking to his knees next to her, reaching out to Jenna’s grave. Elena held a few tears back at the gesture. Even though Jenna hadn’t really understood what had been going on, she had known Damon, and she knew Damon had liked her.   
“Merry Christmas, Jenna… Merry Christmas, John,” Elena put her hand on top of each of their graves. 

***

On their way to the next grave, Damon stopped. As they were connected by hands, Elena stopped as well, looking at him. His eyes were on one of the newer graves.   
“We didn’t bring a wreath for Tyler…” Damon whispered, not taking his eyes off it. Elena turned around so she could see his grave properly. She felt bad for not bringing something for him. She did however notice a single pink flower sitting at the bottom of the stone. She wondered who had left it there.   
“I killed him… I should have brought something…” Damon whispered. Elena rubbed his arm.   
“You know it wasn’t really your fault, you were under the siren’s influence… we’ll come back here with something for him,” she assured him, kissing his cheek. Damon looked at her and she realized she hadn’t seen his blue eyes like this in a long time. He felt guilty.   
“It’s okay, I promise… Let’s go share a few thoughts with him,” she said. They stepped closer to the grave together and put their hands on the top of it. Elena closed her eyes and let the memories she had of Tyler go through her head, good and bad. 

***

Elena knew this next one was going to be harder for Damon, probably more than even he realized. She hadn’t told him who they were going to visit - they just walked arm in arm, not needing to speak at all. When Elena stopped in front of the grave, she could tell Damon hadn’t been here yet. He would have known, but she could tell he didn’t until he read the print on the stone and inhaled sharply. Liz Forbes had meant so much to him, that Elena understood why he had yet to visit . It was a hard one for him to process, especially since there was absolutely nothing he could have done. Unlike so many of the people they’d lost, there hadn’t been a murderer. There hadn’t been some great evil that had taken her away from them. It had just been cancer; and the loss was so tragically human.   
“I…”  
“It’s okay. You don’t have to speak unless you want to,” she whispered. She noticed the little pink flower at the bottom of the stone and suddenly realized who had left the one on Tyler’s grave. Of course Caroline had been here. She felt bad she hadn’t even thought to ask Caroline if she wanted to come with them, but she also felt like this was something she and Damon needed to do together. And she had known this would be difficult for him - more so than he had realized.   
“Caroline came last week,” Damon seemed to be thinking along the same lines as her, “She asked me if I wanted to join her…to come with her to visit-” he cleared his throat, apparently finding it too difficult to speak Stefan’s name. Elena heard it anyway.  
“I turned her down, because I wanted to go with…” Damon trailed off again. Elena noticed the tear in the corner of his eye. She opened the purse she had brought with her and handed him the flask she had filled before they left.   
“It’s okay… today is a rough day. I thought you might need it,” she said, as he took it, looking surprised. He didn’t say anything, but she knew he was grateful - they really didn’t need words.   
Damon sank to his knees, holding a wreath in his other hand. He put the wreath down on the side, making sure the pink flower was still in the middle, and Elena could see the tears running slowly down his cheeks. She followed him and put her hand on his back, letting him feel whatever he needed to. After they’d sat there for a few minutes, he took a big swig of the flask she’d brought and gratefully gulped it down.   
“I love you,” he said, looking at her. His eyes seemed even more blue than normal - but she knew it would only get worse from here. Liz was the first step, and they had two more left. 

***

They both seemed to instinctually slow down as they neared the Salvatore family crypt. They had two wreaths left in the bag. They stopped at first at Lily’s grave. Elena hadn’t been sure how he would react, but it seemed like Damon had processed her death a little more than the others. He put down the wreath, put both hands on the stone, closed his eyes and appeared deep in thought. Elena let him stand alone, talking internally to his mom.   
And as he stepped away, they both breathed in deep. The last grave was the one Elena hadn’t dared think about. The pain was still so raw, still so… deep.   
Putting their arms around each other, they walked there together. Damon’s daylight ring was somehow still on the top of the grave, along with the necklace, Caroline’s snow globe and Matt’s bracelet. There was a pink flower at Stefan’s grave as well, but Elena had figured there would be. They both grabbed a side of the last wreath and put it down together. After that, they sank to their knees and as if clockwork, they both started crying. They embraced each other tightly, letting all of the emotion flow out. Somehow, it seemed very healthy - a good way of remembering him and having him be a part of Christmas. And as their tears fell, snow started falling from the sky, making the pink flower and the wreath stand out even more. And somehow, not a single flurry stuck to the small collection of memorabilia.


	9. Day 8

“Damon.” Elena’s sweet voice was a whisper waking him up from his sleep. It was still dark outside, so he couldn’t have been asleep for long. She was sitting next to him on the bed, wearing pj’s, with her hair up in a very messy bun on her head. It seemed like she had been awake for a while, but he wasn’t entirely sure why.   
“Is everything okay?” he whispered back, sitting up to look around the room for anything suspicious. Everything seemed normal.   
“Yes, don’t you dare get that sword out again!” she grinned, kissing his forehead, “Get up, and get dressed.”   
“Why am I getting dressed? It’s the middle of the night,” he asked, feeling much more awake now.   
“So many questions,” Elena teased, “Just get dressed, I’ll explain in the car.” Damon’s mouth fell open, as she walked out of their room.   
“Car?!” 

***

Twenty minutes later, Damon was dressed and ready to go. Since Elena was in her pj’s, he figured he could just put on a pair of sweatpants and the first t-shirt he could find. He had no idea why, but after seven different Christmas themed surprises, he’d gotten used to just kind of following her lead. However in those other cases, it hadn’t been half an hour till midnight on a Thursday.  
“Alright, let’s go!” Elena said, already in her shoes and jacket and had her purse and car-keys all ready. Damon made sure his wallet was in his jacket as he grabbed it. They walked to her car together, and she got behind the wheel. She turned on the radio to a channel that played non-stop Christmas music as they pulled out of the driveway.   
“I’m guessing you’re not telling me where we’re going?” Damon asked, putting his hand on her thigh.   
“Of course not! It’s a surprise. I can say that we’re not going to be driving for very long,” she teased.   
“So, we’re not taking another 2-hour road trip to get to Target?” Damon smirked. Elena slapped his upper arm.   
“Don’t be mean,” she said, not hiding her smile.

***

Ten minutes later, Damon understood where they were going. They’d been driving around on small streets for a while, and now Elena had turned down a residential road, where every single house was covered in Christmas decorations and lights. Over the years, he had seen neighborhoods with big houses go all out for the holidays, as these clearly had, but at the time it had seemed like something to roll his eyes at. Stupid humans with their stupid need to show how much better they were than their neighbors. Now, however, looking at the gleaming happiness in Elena’s eyes, he understood that it had never been about that at all.  
“Is this a thing you used to do with your family?” Damon guessed, as she drove down the street, going a maximum of 10 mph.   
“Yep! I love these decorations, but I don’t think I’d ever get sleep if my house looked like that,” Elena said, reaching to the backseat. Damon frowned.   
“What do you need from the back?” he asked, keeping an eye on the road, as she was rummaging around.   
“Ah, found them! Snacks,” she said, handing him a tin can. He took it and opened it and saw the results of their baking adventure - lots of sugar cookies. “Go on, have one.”   
Damon chuckled at her and grabbed one from the can.   
“You need one too,” he said, handing her one of the tree-shaped ones. She took it and instantly bit into it, her eyes big as she looked at all the houses. Damon put the lid back on the can and put it on the floor, joining Elena in looking at the decorations.   
Some of the houses were straight up outrageous - he wasn’t sure how anyone in the entire neighborhood slept. But some of them, he had to admit, were actually nicely decorated.   
“Did you decorate your house at all, when you were a kid?” Damon asked.   
“A little bit. Sort of like the lights around the gavel of that house,” Elena said, and pointed to one that had the classic lights, “Nothing more than that, really. We focused a lot more on the inside than the outside. Hanging lights up that high isn’t really a kid-friendly task.”   
“Yeah, that’s a long way down from the roof,” Damon smirked, giving her another cookie. This was a part of Christmas that he didn’t have to make an effort to like - driving around at night, with music on the radio and snacks, looking at decorated houses was kind of nice. Plus it gave them time to just spend time together and talk, with minimal distractions. One thing was for sure - he loved each and every moment with his girl.


	10. Day 9

“Elena, I get that you want to find the perfect tree, but I don’t understand what’s been so wrong about the ones we’ve been looking at,” Damon said. They had been at a lot, looking for a Christmas tree for almost an hour and he was getting cold. When Elena had said they should get out and choose a tree and cut it themselves, he had been all for it. Having an actual live tree was a tradition from when he was a kid and somehow, having a Christmas tree made out of plastic seemed wrong. He hadn’t imagined it could take this long to find the perfect one, though.   
“Don’t worry, I think we’re almost there!” Elena said, excitedly. As with all of the Christmas activities they’d been up to, she looked more than just cute. She had been so focused, right from the time they’d gotten to the tree lot.   
“Okay then,” Damon chuckled, following her through the forest. A lot of the trees they had passed really were not worth a second glance - others seemed just fine to him, but apparently, Elena saw something he didn’t.   
“Oooh, here it is!” she said and pointed to a tree, “This one is perfect!” The tree she had found was tall and slender with a few missing patches here and there. To Damon, it seemed far from perfect.   
“Really? I mean, it’s missing branches here and stuff…” Damon said, pointing to it.   
“Yeah, that’s what makes it perfect. It has its flaws and its scars, but it’s still standing strong and tall. It’s perfect,” Elena said, taking a photo with her phone. Damon smiled at her, moving to the bottom of the tree with the saw they’d brought.   
“That’s a good point. I like that,” he said, starting the work of cutting down the tree. 

***

After Damon spent a good fifteen minutes cutting down the tree and they had gotten it wrapped and attached to the top of Elena's car, they decided to peek inside the little cottage attached to the place. As they entered, it seemed as though they had transformed a house into a little café and shop. The shop seemed to have all kinds of homemade Christmas decorations , and the café served pastries and hot drinks. Deciding their tree hunt had left them hungrier than they thought, they visited the café first, where Damon bought them two danishes and a steaming cup of homemade apple cider each. They sat down on the wooden benches that looked as homemade as the rest of the interior.   
"I can't believe we've never noticed this place before," Elena said, looking around. Cozy was the perfect way to describe the cottage - everything felt very home-y.   
"Yeah, me either. I wonder how long it's been here for," Damon added. In all his years of coming back to Mystic Falls, he'd never seen it before, and it wasn't as if he and Stefan hadn't spent a good amount of time in the woods.   
"I don't know… We rarely did the whole 'cut down your own Christmas tree' thing," Elena said, taking a sip of the apple cider. The warm liquid coated her throat so nicely and seemed to warm her up instantly. It was the best she had ever had.   
"You didn't? I'm surprised. I would've thought this had been part of your childhood too," Damon gestured to the cottage.   
"No… Most years we had a plastic tree. It was more about decorating it, than actually picking out the tree. Looking back now, I wish we would've done this more," Elena sighed. There was no changing the past and nobody knew that better than her.   
"Well, we'll just have to make it our tradition, then," Damon said and put his hand on her thigh and gave it a squeeze, "The first of many." 

***

Forty-five minutes later they were home, with their new Christmas tree standing proud in the parlor. After drinking cider and finishing their danishes, they had gone around the little shop and picked out a few decorations for their tree. The homemade decorations just seemed so much nicer than the stuff they had bought at various stores earlier. At first, they had gone just to find a blanket and foot for the tree, but they had realized that they would be needing decorations as well. They had picked up a bunch of stuff - including an outrageous amount of tree lights, but they all seemed to fade a little, compared to the handmade ones. Before they had gotten started on decorating, Elena had handed Damon a box that looked a lot like the one the snow flakes had been in. She told him the artist made them in smaller versions too, and she felt like they belonged on their tree. Once again, Damon had felt a gratitude towards Elena that he had no way of sharing with her in words, but it seemed like she understood anyway.   
Elena had even gotten them spiked egg-nog and they both enjoyed it, while decorating their very first Christmas tree. The order of the decorations seemed to become more and more random, the more egg-nog they had, but just like the tree, the flaws were what made it perfect when they were done.


	11. Day 10

Damon hadn't understood why Elena absolutely needed him to go grocery shopping with her, until they'd been at the store and Elena had announced that they were going to cook Christmas dinner, not just for themselves, but for Jeremy, Bonnie, Alaric, Caroline and the twins. He hadn't quite realized they'd all be coming for dinner, but the news made him happy - so far, their Christmas had been very much just the two of them, and he realized that he actually missed their friends.   
Elena knew she wasn’t the best cook, but had been willing to give it a shot, especially if it meant having the chance to get everyone together.  
The shopping list she had made was pretty basic, the traditional Christmas meal items, but as she and Damon strolled down the grocery store aisles, he surprised her by adding even more things to the cart than she had planned. After a little while she just let him take over, and watched as the menu expanded. Damon, apparently, knew what he was doing, and she loved that even after years of knowing him, she could still discover new little things like this.  
As he made suggestions on more things to add, or ways to make the meal better, she realized that she was going to, unexpectedly, be more of an assistant than chef, when they made it to the kitchen. She was already looking forward to it. Damon also had ideas for mixing up their traditions and making a grand feast of both modern American Christmas food, and food from the 1850's, that he had grown up with. 

***

When they got home with all their groceries, Damon instantly took over the cooking and Elena loved seeing him in that element. While he had always been cocky, there was something entrancing about watching him do something he knew he was good at, without a doubt. And his kitchen skills were a thing of beauty.  
“You’re supposed to be mixing that,” Damon joked, motioning to the bowl in front of her that had been abandoned once she began watching him in action. Elena actually blushed a little at his knowing smirk, “Sorry.” He chuckled and she refocused her mind to the task.  
They had gotten a ham, just like Elena’s parents always had, but they’d also gotten chicken and turkey. Apparently that was very much a thing when Damon had been a kid. He continued to order her around in the kitchen, really focused on the cooking, and she actually had fun with it - it was nice to see him take charge with such confidence in a place other than the bedroom. 

***

It was dark when their guests started arriving. Elena had made welcome-drinks for them and had changed into an amazing red dress, that made Damon want to drag her upstairs and get her naked for the second time that day. Caroline and Alaric had come together and of course brought the munchkins . They had gotten so big since the last time he’d seen them. They instantly stormed into the house, giving Elena and Damon a big hug, before continuing into the parlor to look at the tree with all it’s decorations.   
“It’s so good to see you again,” Caroline said as she hugged Elena and then Damon, “I’m sorry we haven’t been more in touch, but these past few weeks have been insane!”   
“It’s okay, Care,” Elena said, smiling at her, “it’s a busy time of year!”.”   
Bonnie arrived almost immediately after. She had let Elena know in an email that she was catching a late flight to be home for Christmas, and both Elena and Damon had so happy to hear she would make it.   
And lastly, Jeremy showed up. Elena hugged him tightly, realizing how long it had been since she had seen her brother. Not since Thanksgiving at Ric’s place. She felt a little guilty for that, , but they all knew college was taking a lot of time out of her schedule, and Elena figured it was the same for Jeremy. She hadn’t heard much about how his classes were going in art school, but every time he called or emailed, he seemed happy, and that was all she had ever wanted for him..   
“Merry Christmas, Elena,” he said as they embraced.   
“Merry Christmas, Jer” she whispered back, “I’ve missed you.”

***

After finishing their drinks in the parlor, looking at all the decorations and catching up from the time that had passed since they’d last been together, they went to have dinner in the dining room.   
The conversation rolled on, even as the food was put on the table, and all the discussion and laughter warmed Elena’s heart. This was her family, and they were all together.  
“Tell me about Africa!” she insisted to Bonnie, who was adding butter to her dinner roll, “I still can’t believe you went on an actual Safari!”  
Her friend laughed, before launching into story after story, starting with her African adventure and ending all the way at the Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, where she had been just before booking a flight back to the states. It seemed that she was moving at her own pace, exploring different countries and continents as she felt the whim, and learning a lot along the way!  
There were apparently whole covens of witches in the older parts of Romania, and she had stayed to study their practices for nearly a month before moving on. It was exciting to hear about and Elena was so thrilled for her. Bonnie was truly at peace and was living the life she deserved.  
Damon had more to offer as far as conversation though, since he himself had been to many of the places she mentioned.  
Elena was surprised at just how many, though she had known he’d travelled a lot over the past century and a half.  
“Prague was one of my favorites,” Bonnie admitted, when Damon brought up the capital city, “But I spent more time in Amsterdam. It was actually a lot more fun without having you two drunk idiots to worry about.”  
She smirked at him and Ric.  
“Hey, it was a rough time,” Damon defended, “And in all fairness, Ric was only pretending to be drunk for most of it. Before he, you know, ditched us.”  
“I had an agenda,” Ric defended and Bonnie rolled her eyes, before addressing Elena and Caroline, “I hope neither of you ever have to travel with them.”  
Elena giggled, “I guess we should thank you for keeping them alive.”  
“Hey!” Both Damon and Alaric exclaimed, causing more laughter.  
Bonnie redirected the conversation, “So what’s new with you guys?”  
“Homeschooling, making sure these two don’t burn down the house, homeschooling, making sure these two don’t accidently kill each other, oh and homeschooling,” Caroline sighed, before affectionately running a hand through Lizzie’s hair, “They keep us on our toes.”  
“You can say that again,” Ric agreed, taking a sip of his drink, “How about you, brother?”  
He lifted a glass in Damon’s direction, “Any regrets about losing the fangs?”  
Damon smirked, laying an arm around Elena’s shoulders, “None whatsoever. Things are actually quiet around here. Mostly we’ve been busy with Christmas preparations.”  
Alaric put his drink down, “Did you just say “we” and “Christmas preparations” in the same sentence?” he asked in disbelief, “Elena, what have you done to him?”  
“Oh she’s trying to bring back the Christmas spirit,” he teased, giving her arm a squeeze.  
Elena tried to hide her smile, “He’s accepted the inevitable with grace.”  
“Damon?” Jeremy joined in with a lifted brow, “Graceful? Wow, things have changed.”  
Elena laughed, “Okay, as much grace as he can, anyway. He’s been very indulgent.”  
“You are castrating my reputation,” Damon warned her, tossing a piece of ham in his mouth.  
“Well, I think it’s sweet!” Caroline said, as Alaric muttered something about not recognizing his friend anymore.  
Elena just kissed Damon’s cheek as his hand found hers.  
“I guess a lot has changed around here,” Damon mused, and interlaced his fingers through her own, “And something tells me it’s only the beginning.”


	12. Day 11

“Daaaamoooon,” Elena called. She was sitting in the room they had refurbished into a lounge, for movies, games, and the like. She had made it nice and comfortable for them and had stacked all the Christmas movies she had been able to find against the DVD-player. She had brought up more Christmas cookies, and all the snacks she could think of, along with a selection of drinks for them. They were pretty much set for a movie night.  
When Damon entered the room, he wasn’t wearing pajamas like her - he was wearing jeans and a jacket.   
“You should go change into your PJ’s, this won’t be very comfortable if you’re wearing all those clothes,” Elena giggled at him, standing up.   
“Actually, you’re the one who isn’t dressed appropriately,” Damon said, gesturing to the movie room, “This can wait, at least for now. Tonight, it’s my turn to surprise you. So get dressed and grab your coat.”

***

Damon parked his Camaro at The Grill’s parking lot and got out. Elena was still confused, but followed his lead.   
“Where are we going? To get dinner?” Elena asked. Damon smiled at her and took her hand.   
“Nope. We’re going to take a little walk,” he said, as they made their way toward the town square. There are a lot of memories attached to this place, Elena couldn’t help but think . So many things had happened throughout the years they had known each other. She recalled several of the Mystic Falls events, most of which had taken a dark turn. Such as the Gone with the Wind viewing, or their fight against the tomb vampires. She had thought she hated Damon back then.. She had thought he was a monster. So much had changed since then, and they had been through so much together.   
“I’ve never understood why Christmas is such a big deal,” Damon said, pulling Elena from her thoughts, “Christmas is one of those things, that no matter where you are… no matter what century. You can tell. Cause it’s this big thing that everybody loves and looks forward to, and I’ve never gotten it.”   
Elena looked at him, not interrupting, because it seemed like there was something he needed to get out.   
“These past few days with you has really changed things for me,” he continued, as they strolled, “it all sounds very ridiculous, but… I think I’m beginning to understand this. You’ve shown me what Christmas is like, when you don’t come from a fucked up family like mine. You showed me that magic everyone is always talking about.”   
“Damon, I…”  
“I know I complained a lot, but really, it does mean a lot to me. Thank you,” he said, stopping up in the middle of the square, right by the big Christmas tree.   
“You’re welcome,” she said, leaning up towards him as he pushed his lips against hers. Elena wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, as she felt his go around her waist. Their lips parted, as they just held each other.   
She didn’t think she would ever get enough of being in his arms. It felt good to be like this with him, simply touching because it felt nice, enjoying each other, and not clinging to him because they were heading into mortal danger.   
They parted a few minutes later, and went back to just strolling around the town.   
“This has really shown me what your childhood was like, too,” Damon said, as they turned down a deserted street, “I mean, we already talked a little about it, but Christmas was so different for me as a child. It wasn’t a warm, magical time like what you grew up with… doing this with you has made me realize just how wonderful Christmas can be… and how amazing it’ll be to have these traditions with our kids.”  
Elena felt her cheeks reddening slightly at his implication. Children...with Damon. It wasn’t that they hadn’t talked about it before, but it had never really seemed realistic, with all the fights and danger and the whole vampire thing. . Now, however, things were different. There wasn't any more shadows lurking around the next corner.. Their lives were almost normal, and suddenly the idea of marriage and kids, and all that followed, seemed like a very real possibility.   
“Our kids?” Elena said, smiling at him.   
“Two. Eventually,” Damon smiled down at her, after repeating her statement from so long ago, when they had played their little five years from now fantasy. She shouldn’t be surprised that he remembered those details.  
Then his expression flickered, his lips straightened, and she wasn’t the only one blushing, “I mean...I had assumed...We had talked about it. But I suppose our circumstances are a bit different...”  
Damon trailed off, suddenly seeming a little fidgety.   
Elena squeezed his hand.  
“Eventually,” she repeated, “Our circumstances have changed, yes, but that hasn’t. I still love the idea of a family...with you.” She tacked on at the end, wanting to reassure him that they were on the same page.  
Damon smiled at her.   
“I do too. A family with you; it’s a nice thought,” he said. Images filled her mind as she imagined how their lives might look in a few years' time. Maybe they would have a kid or two, running around whatever house they ended up in, after the boarding house was ready to open up as a school. They had been looking a while for houses that were near the college Elena was going to be attending. The plan was to move out before the various supernatural children started to arrive at the boarding house, towards the end of summer. Everything should be ready to go by then.Caroline and Alaric had both asked them to stay on, maybe even help teach, but it was time for them to move on. Elena’s dream of becoming a doctor was stronger than ever, and Damon knew this was his last lifetime to live. They needed to leave for a while and have a chance to figure this whole human life thing out. . 

***

“This was a great idea,” Elena said, as they got back to the car after walking around for an hour, watching the town's Christmas decorations and the large Christmas tree.   
“Well, I thought I was overdue to choose an activity,” Damon said, opening the door for Elena, “the tables have been turned for long enough.”   
“You know, we still have time for movie night,” Elena teased, as she got in. Damon went around the car and got in the driver’s side.   
“You know, a movie night actually sounds pretty great,” he said, starting the car.   
“Really?” Elena said, surprised that he would want to do it. Movies had never really been Damon’s thing. It seemed like he had a hard time focusing for long enough to actually follow what was going on, but once in a while she got him to actually sit down and watch a movie with her. It was always something she needed to ask him to do, though, it had never been his idea.   
“Yeah, a quiet night alone with you. The fireplace. A couch... sound great.”  
She squinted suspiciously at him, “You’re not planning on actually watching the movie are you?”  
“I have no idea what you mean,” he faked an innocent smile and Elena playfully rolled her eyes, fully expecting some wandering hands, once they settled onto the sofa for their “movie night”.


	13. Day 12

“Elena, baby, are you awake?” Elena woke up to Damon standing on her side of the bed, gently rubbing her shoulder. They had stayed up late the night before, having begun watching the Christmas movies she had planned, but ended up doing everything but watching the movies by the time the opening credits had started.   
“What’s the matter?” Elena asked groggily , sitting up in the bed. Light was coming in through the small gaps in the curtains, hinting that she may have actually slept in until noon..   
“Nothing,” Damon smiled brightly at her, “Merry Christmas,”  
He put down a tray with breakfast on the bed. He had made her pancakes, brought up syrup, there was toast with butter, cinnamon and sugar on it, scrambled eggs and bacon. On her bedside table stood a steaming cup of coffee. She also noticed the time, which was actually 11:30; not far off from her estimation.  
"Aww, Damon, you shouldn't have!" she said, as she looked at her feast. Damon’s smile grew and he kissed her on the cheek.   
"I like doing things for you. Now, eat your breakfast and drink your coffee and after you're done, there's a package right here that you have to open - but only after you've eaten," he said, smirking at her. Elena frowned in confusion.   
"Why can't I open it now?" she asked, as she bit into the delicious toast. She wasn't entirely sure how he knew that her parents used to make her toast like that. She didn't think she'd ever mentioned it.   
"Because I say so," he leaned down and stole a bite of the toast still in her hand, "Come downstairs after." He then got up from her bed and left the room, making Elena wonder what on earth he was up to. But no matter what it was, she was enjoying this. She ate her food, savoring every bite of it. When she had a sip of the coffee, she realized he had put the flavored creamer in it that tasted like candy canes. He knew she loved it. After she was done, she immediately grabbed the package, really curious about what could be inside.   
It turned out to be the cutest Christmas onesie, she had ever seen. She hadn't worn one since she was little, but it looked so comfortable that she immediately jumped up and put on underwear, then pulled the onesie on and hurried downstairs to see what else Damon was up to. 

***

“That’s sexy,” Damon said, as she came jumping down the stairs, and Elena laughed, “Yeah, I’m sure! I look like a reindeer!” She pulled the hood of the onesie over her head to show off the antlers and he grinned, “A sexy, sexy reindeer. All the other reindeer will be jealous. They may not let you play in their reindeer games.”  
“Oh ha. Ha. ha.” she mocked, before wrapping her arms around his neck and giving his lips a peck, “But honestly. I love it! Thank you.”

“I love you too,” Damon assured her, “And in the spirit of honesty, you actually look quite adorable.” Her hair was in a messy bun on the top of her head, and her breath smelled like candy canes and maple syrup, which only added to the illusion. .   
"Oh, hey! You're wearing another Christmas sweater," she pointed out, as she stepped back and got a good look at him. This one had Jesus on it with a birthday hat and a balloon in his hand. The caption read 'birthday boy'.   
"It is Christmas morning, isn't it?" Damon said, wrapping his arms around her waist, "And this is what you wear for Christmas activities. Or so my trusty Christmas advisor has taught me!" Elena giggled, as she rested her head against his chest.   
"It's perfect."  
"I have your theme music playing in the living room. How about we make some hot cocoa with marshmallows, and you and I sit down by the tree and open presents?" Damon suggested. Elena smiled at him.   
"Who are you and what have you done with my Grinch-boyfriend?”

***

Later, they had opened all of the gifts, from their friends and each other, their cocoa long since gone. Elena had put on the beautiful necklace Jeremy had gotten her immediately, and had carefully wrapped up a pair of earrings from Bonnie that had been handmade in India. . Damon had poured them both a glass of the expensive bourbon that had been Ric’s gift, and Elena had no doubt the two men would polish off the bottle the next time Alaric came over.   
"There is one more present for you," Damon said. Elena frowned and looked under the tree.   
"I think you need your eyes checked. There’s nothing else under here.”.?"   
"No, because I have it right here," he reasoned, and Elena straightened, “Where.”  
He chuckled at her enthusiasm, and said, “Hold out your hand.”  
When she did, he placed something small into her palm.  
A tiny, silver wrapped box, with a pretty sparkling ribbon around it.  
She knew from the shape that it was probably a jewelry box, but somehow she didn’t think there were a pair of colorful earrings inside of this one.  
Elena looked up at him.   
"Damon…"  
His voice came out as rough as hers,"Just open it."  
She carefully undid the bow on top, as though she was afraid it might break. The wrapping came off immediately after the ribbon had been removed and inside was, as she’d guessed, a velvet jewelry box.  
“Oh, Damon,” she breathed out, and opened the lid.  
Tears welled in her eyes when she saw the ring gleaming up at her. It was a stunning sapphire base, surrounded by tiny white diamonds, on a silver band. And right then, it was the most beautiful thing Elena had ever seen in her life.  
A hand touched her face, Damon’s thumb wiping away a tear she hadn’t realized was falling.  
“Elena,” he stared at her, his blue eyes full of emotion and shining just as brightly as the ring he had given her, “These past few years with you, have been the best of my entire life. Despite all that we have been through and everything we’ve lost...I’m happy. You make me happy.”  
There was no stopping the tears now.  
“You are my light, Elena; my life. You have brought me from the brink more times than you will ever know and even before the cure, you made me human. . And now… This? Actually being human? It’s better than I could have ever imagined, because of you. Our life together is perfect and I want to spend every moment of however many years we have, with you. "   
Damon got up from his position on the floor, grabbing her hand as he got on one knee,“ I want to be your husband. The father of your kids. I want a hundred more Christmases like this one, and to show my love to you each and every day for the rest of our lives. So, Elena Gilbert, I am asking you: Will you marry me? "   
Elena nodded, because her voice had completely escaped her.  
“Yeah?” Damon’s smile was growing.  
"Yes,” she forced out, and a laugh of happiness escaped her, “Yes, Damon, of course I will!"   
She threw herself into his arms, and he held her, kissed her, made good on his promise of forever.  
And as she buried her face in his neck, Damon took the box from her.  
A moment later, he had slid the ring into place on her finger, and brought it to his lips.  
This was the happiest moment of her life. Of their life, together. And it was only the beginning of the years to come.   
"Merry Christmas,” her fiance said and Elena couldn’t help but kiss him again, “Merry Christmas, Damon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so much for following this story, I hope you all enjoyed it :)


End file.
